Blossoms
by Arydubhe
Summary: A cherry three. Two soldiers and a strong desire for a promising future. That's what you'll find in this little ff inspired by spring coming back. What will the new season make Hanji and Levi confess? *Levihan*


_Ok, that's what they call 'things written in a rush'. Entry for the #MMWriting in the Amino community… I hope you will like it in spite of many grammar errors you might find. Levihan ship is powerful here. Enjoy the reading "3_

 _ **BLOSSOMS**_

"So, that's where you are, four eyes"

Hanji was in front of a big cherry three, on top of a hill standing out from a wide and calm plain.

The woman simply nodded, without even turning her back to face that voice she knew that well.

Pissed off by her weak reaction and uncaring snub, Levi approached her, hissing.

"Ohi, we were looking for you. Your squad has already placed everything for the campsite. We should be ready to begin our tests in a moment."

The two squad leaders were in charge of the new military operations, which were supposed to end in two days. The 48th expedition outside the walls had begun many hours before, a research purpose bestow on it more than a killing business, for once. Sample collection and research, that was what they were just spposed to do this time,

But as soon as they reached the chosen place for the sample collection, Hanji disappeared with no message given to anyone about where she was going nor what she was about to do. It was when Moblit almost panicked for her absence - that he was judging to be too long - that Levi offered himself to go and bring the hot head back.

It was out of mere fortune that Levi had been able to find here so soon, though.

"We are perfectly on time, as I calculated. I had no doubt about that. " she stated, pleased with the news just received about the operation proceeding fast "Our squads are great!"

"Sure they won't thank you for 'your' help, though, since you were here, all alone, spacing out. Moblit is on the verge of a nervous breakdown because you are lost who knows where, you know. He is already imagining you transformed in titan poop."

"We have cleared the zone, plus he's competent enough to take care of those things alone...I am not that insensitive to leave an helpless squad to make all the preparations! You're not the only one to choose his own subordinates carefully...they know what to do, they are perfectly fine even if I am not around, as they just proved... Moreover...titans don't defecate, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"I bet Moblit would probably prefer you not to rely on him so much...you often leave him with far too much to do... I won't be surprised if one day he would eventually try to kill you for revenge... "

"Mmmmh" she simply replied "He wouldn't"

She wasn't basically listening again.

Hanji was focusing on the branches of the three, the twisting directions, the asymmetrical shape, the collection of small regular flowers creating a soft and scented cloud of blossom and leaves. She was totally absorbed in the contemplation.

It was not such hard a thing to understand she had something in her mind. It was pretty obvious. As reckless as she was, Hanji was not so irresponsible to leave everything up to her underlings for no reason.

Levi analyzed the three carefully. But as far as he tried, nothing Levi could find that was able to explain what was catching all Hanji's attention.

"It is impossible that this is the first time you see a cherry three blossoming...there are tons in the walls. What the hell is so special about this three?" Levi finally asked.

Instead of a direct reply, the woman took a step forward to reach the trunk, caressed the cortex ridges creating whirlpools and shapes, delicate and solemn as a mother taking care of a child. Then her hands reached a hole in the wood Levi failed to notice Immediately. It was a wide consumed section eaten away by... Termites.

Levi gulped at the idea of the nest pervading the three. Ha was not particularly fond of insects...

"Nature is beautiful, don't you think?" Hanji finally said "so full of colors and shapes... Regular ones, irregular as well... But there's a rule behind them, there always is nevertheless. Hidden in skin, bones, cells... And there is an internal will to struggle for survivor. Eat or be eaten they say, but...look at this three. Again it blossoms though the termites feed on it... " she paused for a moment. Then the tone of her voice changed in a deeper and serious one.

"I …really want to uncover the secrets behind this world…I really want to see what's behind this walls, Levi. I want to know as much as we can about the world in which we live... "

Levi knew those Hanji moments too well. Many people just saw a mad scientist in her... And sure her behavior couldn't but confirm this feelings, but there was always a deeper meaning in her doings, basically an absolute desire for knowledge and discovery, stronger than anything else. Something se was ready to sacrifice averything for.

Levi would have never said it out loud, but this was one of the aspects of the woman he appreciated the most. It often led Hanji to be too harebrained and foolish, but at least she was one with a will and a goal in her life to struggle for. And he liked people like that.

"So, basically, humanity is the three and titans are the insects. And you were thing about titans all along even in front of a three" he teased her.

She bursted into an open, sincere laught. "Ahahahahah probably! You got me."

Hanji, with a big smile on her face, looked again at the three for a moment, than her gaze switched to the plain, the sky and her people on the campsite.

"Do you have a favorite season, Levi?" she chirped.

"It's irrelevant"

"Oh, come on!" she insisted.

"I suppose it's winter. "

Hanji grinned.

"Gloomy season from a gloomy man, uhuh?" she mocked him.

Annoyed, Levi muffled something before moving to leave.

"Tch. Think what you want, moron. Just stop your blabbing crap quickly and come back to the Earth with us." and that stated, he was ready to climb down the hill and reach the others.

"No, wait!" in a few stride Hanji was running after Levi, trying to stop him.

"I really want to know why you like it." she said, poking him.

"Is there anything you don't want to know?" he asked, miffed. It was a clear provocation.

But no witty answer came from her. Just:

"No…YES… I mean. Of course, there are things I myself are afraid to know but... I really don't get what's good in winter. I would really like to understand. "

Levi allowed himself a moment to look at her face. Her eyes were glimmering, but in a way somewhat different from her usual creepy obsessive expression. There was curiosity in her eyes and something he couldn't fully detect nor understand...

"…"

"…"

A meditative silence fell between the two of them for a moment.

He sighed before eventually answering.

"…The first memory I have from my childhood is of a winter day. I was a really little boy, I suppose 4-5 years old. I remember my mother brought me out to play together and we found a hole from which snow was falling through a huge crack in the earth ceiling, reaching the Underground. It was a secret place known to a few. I had never seen the snow before... And... It was my first time looking at the sky as well. For ages I believed the sky was grey, because that day it was. I don't recollect much apart from that, I am just sure we played snowballs... That's all. But there's one thing I clearly remember. The tea I drank that day, nothing has never been able to compare to it afterwards."

Hanji smiled. It was always moving how Levi seemed to change whenever he talked about his mother. Weakness he perfectly knew, so he usually avoided to do that in public. Hanji was one of the few people who he dared to name the woman who gave him life to. A gift she was always so happy to receive form that introvert man.

"I am sure your mom was a kind person. " she said. She was really certain of that.

"She was. That's why I like winter. Winter is cold…but... there's when you feel the warmth more…OHI! "

Hanji had just hugged him, though expecting a punch, that didn't come. For some reasons Levi didn't move a muscle, his complaining limited to words: "I was talking about the heat of a tea cup, a stove or of clean person, not of a wet dog smelling person, shitty glasses!" he frantically said.

But Hanji had no intention of letting him go. "Find me anyone in this small regiment who doesn't smell like an animal, and I will prize you…we have been riding horses fo hours... And, just to inform you, you're not that perfumed as well…"

Levi's face became a mask of disgust. That was more than an insult.

"I hate you, four eyes! "

"Me too, midget clean-freak!"

The fact that they were too close was a sudden realization for Levi.

It was a matter of an instant. Hanji's lips pressed on Levi's cheek, softly, kindly, leaving him almost shocked.

"You know - said Hanji, in a rush before Levi could have time to change his mind, punching her in the face for real this time - I get what you say about the warmth. That's why I like summer the best. It's the season of heat not just warmth. No cold to drive away or recover from, just bright things to enjoy...Spring is the rebirth of nature, but summer is the full explosion of it. With no stops, no limits. No boundaries as I would like this world to be. Heath is untamed and can't be stopped, maybe it is excessive and bit over-the-top sometimes, but but it is overwhelming... "

"Like you" Levi commented.

Hanji giggled. "I bet so…"

They contemporary stared at the three, in silence.

After a few moments, Hanji spoke.

"I can't promise I will be able to be here forever, Levi. But I can offer myself to help you recover from the cold you suffered."

She was calm while speaking and serious, just a bit red in her cheeks. She was keeping her composure as best as she can. There had been no hesitation in her words.

"Heat- started Levi- can burn, but cold can freeze a hearth and eventually burn as well. I don't know if there is something still alive and able to give and feel of warmth in there. I don't know if I will endure to suffer again. And I am honestly afraid to get to know the answer. "

Levi was ready to see dismay on Hanji face, but dismay wasn't there at all.

She blinked twice, then: "Well, I think there's still hope in you. Otherwise you would love winter for the cold itself, not for the beauty warmth has especially in that period... "

It was a logical statement she concluded with a huge smile on her face...forcing Levi to divert his eyes from the woman in front of him.

"Shut up, shitty glasses! " he shouted instead, grabbing the woman's hair and dragging her towards the campsite.

They had almost reached the others, when suddenly Levi asked "Are you willing to teach me, Hanji?"

She beamed.

"I suppose spring is not that bad for a gradual re-education!"

 __  
Thanks 4 anyone who has been able to arrive here :joy:_


End file.
